EDITORIAL: Crowley and Meeks: Queens’ Toxic Pols

Rep. Joseph Crowley — chairman of the borough’s Democratic Party — finds himself the target of an ethics probe.

The Office of Congressional Ethics — an outside, independent body of former members of Congress — recommended this week that the House Ethics Committee investigate three members, including Crowley, who raised significant sums of Wall Street money before key votes on the financial-services-overhaul bill.

Crowley pulled in $23,500 from one fund-raising event alone last December, just days prior to a vote.

Yes, even members of Congress are innocent until proven guilty. But the OCE is akin to an ethics grand jury, so its referral is quite serious.

Meanwhile, an actual empaneled federal grand jury is probing four other high-profile Queens Democrats — Borough President Helen Marshall, Rep. Gregory Meeks, state Sen. Malcolm Smith and ex-Rep. Floyd Flake — over their ties to contractor and contributor Robert Gaskin, who’s worked on housing and construction projects for all four.

That probe is also exploring questions — first raised in The Post — about Meeks’ role in a charity he created to assist Hurricane Katrina victims: New Yorkers Organized to Assist Hurricane Families only paid out $1,392 of the $31,000 raised after the Gulf disaster.

Read more: (Editorial, “Queens’ Toxic Pols,” New York Post, 09/03/10)